The Micah Mandate

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admits that the challenges in addressing corruption and abuse of power today are more challenging than when he was first appointed as prime minister in 1981. Dr Mahathir said when he took over the country’s governance 37 years ago, the government machinery at that time was viewed as virtually free from corruption, unlike today.… Read the article

IN Ayi Kwei Armah’s book, The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born, the protagonist is a civil servant who chooses not to take bribes for favours at the expense of his children’s education and basic access to shoes. He is surrounded by friends who, unlike him, benefit from the corrupt system and live in luxury.… Read the article

When Mahathir announced the composition of his cabinet 1.0, there was an outcry from certain quarters in PKR, decrying the notion that the party was not allocated any important ministerial position (and obviously ignoring the fact that it holds the deputy prime ministership and is promised the prime ministership). We command the largest bloc of MPs and deserve therefore the lion’s share of power (my interpretation).… Read the article

May 15, 2018 (Note that this was written and published more than a month ago, commenting on the formation of the first few members of Mahathir’s cabinet) Mahathir Mohamad named three Cabinet ministers and announced the establishment of a Council of Elders on Saturday (May 12), in a move that strengthens his position within the Pakatan Harapan coalition, says one observer.… Read the article

Some weeks ago, Tun Dr Mahathir, in his characteristic sarcasm said of Najib, who pleaded ignorance to all the shenanigans in 1MDB, that “Najib always assumes that people are stupid.” This week speaking at the opening the UMNO Pekan Division delegates meeting, Najib said, “In the last general election, we lost to a party that did not spend much money; we did not know where their divisional offices were, their canopies were the earliest to close, but even when we flocked to our canopies, we still lost.… Read the article

I read this article covering an analyst basically saying that “now is not the time” for bad news. Rather it is the time to rebuild confidence among investors. Interestingly the analyst also highlighted the fact that there is a possible US-China trade war and emerging economies such as Malaysia could be hurt.… Read the article

By Umran Kadir I had the pleasure of attending a talk delivered by Anwar Ibrahim in London on June 13. The title of the talk was “The future of the rule of law in Malaysia: in conversation with Anwar Ibrahim”. Anwar’s speech It was the second time I had attended a talk by him and, as before, I was impressed by his natural delivery and the content of his speech.… Read the article